The yellow metal climbed above the $1,433 mark on Wednesday, its highest level since mid-May, as tensions around Syria increased its allure as a “safe haven”. On Friday it ended the week at $1,395 against its late-June trough of $1,180 an ounce.

“Safe-haven and geopolitical hedges are back in vogue,” said analysts at HSBC. The metal’s price has passed both its 50-day and 100-day moving averages this month, setting it on course for the $1,500 mark. “Gold is now decisively through previous resistance and is pushing higher towards the $1,500-$1,532 area,” said Citigroup’s technical research team in a recent note.

The threat to supply from a strike in the South African gold sector announced for the coming week could also push prices higher, while jewellery-buying in China and India to take advantage of the price weakness has been offering support.

Any move further upwards could be short-lived, however. In the longer term, many expect concerns about “tapering” by the Federal Reserve — the unwinding of its vast, inflationary monetary stimulus — will dull gold’s appeal. If the US central bank does start curbing its $85bn-a-month bond-buying programme in September that would dent the metal, which benefited from this flood of liquidity.

Ed Morse, Citigroup’s chief commodities analyst, said while the action in the gold market was “understandable, it’s all related to political risk insurance as perceived by participants in the market”, and the price should drop back. “Once military action has been taken, the gold market will sell off,” he said.